After Greenfield shooting, unruly crowd got in way of medical aid, police say

One man is dead and four teenagers remained hospitalized Wednesday from a mass shooting in Greenfield, where a melee erupted that led to a countywide call for emergency police backup.

The attack took place around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday as family and friends gathered for a barbecue in the front yard of a residence in the 400 block of Clifton Court.

Witnesses said a hooded assailant walked up from a nearby yard and opened fire on the group.

"A lot of shots were fired," Greenfield Police Chief Eric Sills said.

The noise quickly drew a group of neighbors, many of whom were already outdoors on the warm night.

Cesar Pantoja, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene after a rowdy crowd of onlookers kept medical workers from performing their jobs, according to radio traffic and police reports.

The four others who lay shot in the driveway were a mix of family and friends, police said.

Sills said paramedics and firefighters at first could not reach the five victims as pandemonium broke out among a growing mass of onlookers. He added that it did not appear the delay was a factor in Pantoja's death because he was likely already dead when paramedics finally made it through.

Police and local clergy who arrived at the scene said it appeared some in the crowd had been drinking, and a few uttered threats to officers.

Another witness to the scene said some in the crowd were known gang associates, but many of those blocking officials were relatives trying to reach injured loved ones.

The threats against police, combined with the obstruction of medical workers, led Greenfield police to put out a call for countywide mutual aid.

"You get like 75 people there and they get this mob mentality," Sills said. "We had to call for additional units to help us push the crowd back. We had to do it. It was not intimidation, we had to get our job done — we had five shooting victims.

"The fire department (staff) were concerned because they didn't feel like it was stable."

The assistance arrived from all corners with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Patrol units from the Soledad, King City and Gonzales police departments, the California Highway Patrol and Monterey County sheriff's deputies from as far as Prunedale showed up and eventually cordoned off a wide swath that kept the crowd at a distance, Sills said.

"They couldn't see much, so they eventually left," he said.

He said police don't plan on arresting anyone for obstructing officers because the crowd was too large to single anyone out.

"I kind of equate it to an Occupy movement," he said. "It would be very difficult to go after one individual — and our focus was really on the victims at that crime scene."

Besides Pantoja, those shot were all teenagers: a 19-year-old man who was taken to a local hospital by friends; an 18-year-old man who was flown to a San Francisco Bay Area trauma center with gunshot wounds to his left leg, right bicep and left shoulder; a 19-year-old man who was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and treated for a bullet wound to his left lower leg; and a 14-year-old boy, who was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with a gunshot wound in his left lower leg.

All four are expected to survive, police said Wednesday.

Sills said there have been past reports of "gang members hanging out" where the shootings took place, and said Pantoja was considered to be a gang associate but did not appear to be a "heavy hitter" in the gang.

Federal and local investigators say Greenfield has been plagued throughout the past two years by incessant — and often deadly — infighting among factions within the same gang.

Witnesses said Tuesday's shooter wore a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark pants, although Sills said the descriptions given weren't clear enough to be sure if the assailant was male or female.

Police said the shooter may have jumped aboard a light-colored sedan that sped away from the shooting scene.

Later, officers detained two women in the 100 block of Oak Street who were seen driving from the scene in what police called a "possible suspect vehicle."

One woman was released, while the other, Greenfield resident Christine Lee Hendrickson, 42, was arrested on a suspected parole violation.

"At this point," Sills said, Hendrickson has not been charged in connection with the murder and shootings, although she remains a "person of interest."

Greenfield police detectives met with Sills and other officers late Wednesday to coordinate their investigative efforts. He said detectives had not been able to interview the other victims, who are scattered among various hospitals, but planned to do so Wednesday night.

Police are still seeking witnesses and ask them to call Detective Rey Medeles at 760-6277, or to use the WeTip anonymous hotline at 800-782-7463.